October 16, 2003

 

Lavender bows out of candidate forum

By KATE SPINNER

Staff Writer


NEWBURYPORT -- A forum for mayoral candidates last night turned out to be quite one-sided not because it was held by the Democratic City Committee, but because only one candidate -- Mary Anne Clancy -- decided to attend.

After returning home from another campaign-related event last night, Mayor Alan Lavender said he was disappointed the forum went on without him. He said he informed Karen Hudner of the Democratic committee last week that he would not attend.

"I called her a week ago when I found out the chamber was going to run a debate," Lavender said. The Greater Newburyport Chamber of Commerce had been planning to host a debate between the two mayoral candidates for about a month. The scheduled date for the event is Oct. 22.

Karen Hudner, who organized last night's forum that was held in the high school cafeteria, said Lavender seemed comfortable with the format of the forum when she confirmed his ability to attend in late September. She said she was sorry Lavender changed his mind and had asked him to reconsider his decision when he called to cancel on Tuesday or Wednesday last week.

She also said she told him last week that she needed to consult with other members of the committee on whether or not to cancel the forum.

She said the five executive members of the committee decided the forum should go on because mailings had been sent out and the event, which was scheduled at the end of September, had been widely publicized.

"Also the other candidate was happy to go ahead," explained Hudner. "You have the other candidate to consider as well."

Clancy said after last night's forum that she decided to continue with the event because she had made the commitment to the committee and because she takes any advantage to voice her opinions and meet with groups of people.

About 30 people, many of them elderly residents, braved the windy weather to attend last night's forum that was paused periodically for updates on the Red Sox game.

Clancy said she was glad to attend the forum and to answer questions posed by residents.

Reiterating her campaign platform, Clancy spoke about the need for leadership and planning in the city to solve problems. She said she would lobby the state for more grants, work with businesses to boost economic development, and communicate with the City Council regularly to develop an amenable relationship.

Residents asked if she would continue leaf pick-up, what she though about the police department management, and what she would do about school crowding and use of drugs and alcohol by teens.

Clancy said that she would find ways to keep leaf pick-up service while also maintaining city infrastructure and that she would provide accountability in the police department.

Hinting at the possibility that state grants may be available sooner than expected, she also said she would work towards providing more elementary school classroom space immediately.

"I think somehow we need to find a plan to build a school," Clancy said. "We don't have a choice."

To reduce teen substance abuse, she said youth services needed to be expanded through creative use of volunteerism and funding.

Before stepping away from the lectern last night, Clancy told the crowd, "I hope the mayor doesn't mind that I took all of his time tonight."

Lavender said last night that though he spoke with his campaign committee about the forum, he was not advised by anyone not to attend. By Friday, when Hudner called, Lavender said he had already made plans for last night.

"Nobody advised me not to go," said Lavender. "It's just that there's only so much time to do all the things that need to be done during a campaign."

He also said he felt that the forum may have been partisan, even though it purported not to be. All elections local to Newburyport are nonpartisan.

"At the local level it's a nonpartisan race, but by having the Democratic City Committee running an event it kind of turns it into a partisan event and I'm an Independent and very proud of it," said Lavender.

"Maybe he didn't feel like we would give him a fair shake," Hudner said, "which is unfortunate because we certainly would have."

In addition to the chamber debate, Lavender said there are other debates he intends to attend on Plum Island and at Clipper Way condominiums.


 
 
(This article replicated online with permission of the Newburyport Daily News, an Eagle Tribune Newspaper.)
 
 
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